What are you reading the week of October 1, 2022?

October already? Wow, time flies. I finished The Gates of Europe this week. I'm starting The Black Sea by Neal Ascherson. This is part of the reading for Tim Snyder's lectures on the history of Ukraine. I may slip in a Maigret novel this weekend as well.

Starting this OverDrive Kindle eBook Alexa can narrate for me ~

The Bangalore Detectives Club (The Kaveri and Ramu Murder Mystery Series, #1)
by Harini Nagendra

This week it's Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid, August Kitko and the Mechas from Space, and Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bauhaus.

Listening to Night Train to Memphis by Elizabeth Peters

Reading A Terrible Beauty by Tasha Alexander

Egypt and Santorini books and both are good

This week I listened to The Bridge of San Luis Rey; it was excellent. Top marks.

Having trouble giving any marks to Deacon King Kong. I simply can't get into it. I'm trying to decide whether to give up on it, or to keep going. Definitely tilting in the giving up direction.

Listening to Life among the Savages by Shirley Jackson, which is light and amusing and just what I needed.

Currently reading:
1 The Journeyer by Gary Jennings a historical fiction about Marco Polo--first rate, although 800 pages. I'm about 100 pages in

2 Music & Silence by Rose Tremain--audio

3) Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens ebook--difficult to get into--seems like many of his others at the beginning

I'm about 40 pages into Ar'n't I a Woman? Female Slaves in the Plantation South by Deborah Gray White.

Still reading Mexican Gothic and mostly ignoring Travels with My Aunt.

Magic Bites – Ilona Andrews
Digital audiobook narrated by Renée Raudman
3***

Paranormal fantasy is just not my thing, but this was really quite fun to read. I loved that the main character is a kick-ass woman who does not suffer fools (or vampires or shapeshifters or demons, etc) lightly. Kate Daniels is a strong woman in both body and mind, and that’s only part of what makes her a successful mercenary.

There were parts of the story line that reminded me of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files stories. Both deal with the various factions in the netherworld and both get themselves into trouble with the ruling groups. Harry has his staff, and Kate has her sword.

The action is nonstop and there’s some interesting sexual / romantic tension. If I need another paranormal fantasy for a challenge prompt I just might turn to Andrews in the future.

Renée Raudman did a great job on the audio narration. She brought these characters to life and I really liked the way she interpreted Kate Daniels.

I finished Breath, Eyes, Memory which is a tale of women across 4 generations dealing with old traditional virginity safeguards. Learning to honor the pluses of their Haitian culture while breaking the chain of abuse. Also a tale of forgiveness.

Finished Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Liked it well enough. Next up is The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik.

I Moved Your Cheese: For Those Who Refuse to Live as Mice in Someone Else's Maze
Deepak Malhotra
3/5 stars
The author who wrote this book comes from Harvard Business School and discusses the book Who Moved My Cheese in where the topic of change is inevitable. However, Malhorta feels that we are more than mice in a maze and that we can make our own changes and create the life we want to live. Short but interesting.

Put aside Travels with My Aunt by Graham Greene. Just not what I'm in the mood for. Switched in The Trouble With Peace by Joe Abercrombie.

6>Tess W
Rose Tremain is one of my favorite authors, she writes wonderful Historical fiction.

It’s been a while since I posted here. I’m reading a book for entirely practical reasons: Conducting Music Today by Bruce Hangen. It seems that, after an 18 year hiatus, I’m called upon to begin conducting again, and I needed a refresher. This books is fantastic! It has information I never even thought about during my first go-round.

Last night I finished The Wedding Party by Jasmine Guillory. It was fun to catch up with old characters from the series and get to know some others better.

>15 Coffeehag: What works will you be conducting?

I finished the extremely valuable Ar'n't I a Woman? Female Slaves in the Plantation South by Deborah Gray White. Professor White's study of the particular aspects of the experience of female slaves in the American south was considered a groundbreaking book when it was first published in 1985. Most of the previous studies of the slave experience had either focused especially on the male experience or had more or less failed to differentiate significantly between the lives of male and female slaves. The book is still held in very high esteem these 37 years later. My more in-depth review is posted on my 50-Book Challenge thread and on the book's work page.

Next up for me will be a memoir called Ruling Over Monarchs, Giants & Stars: Umpiring in the Negro Leagues & Beyond by Bob Motley. Motley is, according to the book's cover blurbs, the last living former umpire in the Negro Leagues.* His memoir also covers his World War 2 combat experiences as a Marine in the Pacific Theater. The memoir is an "as told to" work done with his son, Myron Motley.

* The professional baseball leagues that African Americans played in during the days before Major League Baseball was integrated.

>17 rocketjk: That remains to be determined. A local choir wanted a director. Going through their vast files of repertoire is a task for the upcoming couple of weeks.

I've started Richard Osman's second Thursday Murder Club Mystery, The Man Who Died Twice. I wasn't a huge fan of the first book but this one seems funnier. I need funny right now.

I just finished The Mountbattens by Andrew Lownie. I wasn't impressed. Lownie didn't even try to explore the character of Edwina Mountbatten or, really, her husband. I did get the impression that Louis Mountbatten was a fun(??) guy but constantly promoted because of his closeness to the crown. He seemed genuinely incompetent but a serious self promoter and maybe pedophile. :(

The new thread is up over here.